


How Evans Discovered the Meaning of 'Padfoot'

by NeverHadThePlot



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Animagus, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Secrets
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-18
Updated: 2016-02-18
Packaged: 2018-05-21 12:49:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,103
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6052231
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NeverHadThePlot/pseuds/NeverHadThePlot
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Marauders have been strangely quiet this week, Potter hasn't even tried to ask Lily out, she wants to know why.</p>
            </blockquote>





	How Evans Discovered the Meaning of 'Padfoot'

When something has upset Sirius, particularly after some sort of altercation with a family member, or a rather harsh letter, Remus would often find his boyfriend curled up on his bed in the shape of Padfoot. He found his emotions easier to deal with as the dog. Remus had learned by now not to ask what was wrong, or if he was okay, but just to sit on his bed and let Padfoot rest his head on his lap, threading his fingers through his fur. Sometimes they would sit in silence, and other times Remus would talk about unimportant things, knowing the soft lull of his voice helped his boyfriend to relax, giving him time until he felt comfortable to shift back to his human form and talk.

Then there came a time in late January in their Sixth year when Padfoot refused to change back for several days. The Marauders were forced to bring him food and water, which they left in bowls at the foot of Remus’ bed, as it was the furthest the boy was willing to travel.

This is how Lily Evans discovered his animagus secret. She wanted to know why her friend Remus was spending all his spare time in his dormitory, rather than the library, growing suspicious when she didn’t see Black leave the room and the other Marauders weren’t being their usual rambunctious selves. Potter hadn’t even tried a pathetic attempt to get her to date him this week.

She followed the boys up to their dorm one evening and listened with her ear at the door.

“C’mon Pads, this isn’t like you. Please will you just talk to us?” That was Potters voice, pleading. Lily frowned at the whine that sounded in response, more like an animal than a human.

“Sirius, please, you’re starting to scare me.” Remus’ voice wobbled. “Please at least tell us what happened.”

Lily pushed the door open, unable to stand the pain in Remus’s voice. James and Remus jumped, shielding her view of the- dog? That was sat in the middle of the bed.

“What’s going on here?” Lily asked, putting her hands on her hips.

The two boys flinched, and the dog jumped to the floor and scrambled beneath the bed.

“Evans,” James said brightly, if slightly flustered, “whatever brings you to our lowly quarters?”

“Why are you keeping a dog up here?” She crossed her arms, “you know it’s against school rules.”

“Dog? There’s no dog.” James denied.

“Oh, please. Don’t insult my intelligence Potter, I can see it.” 

“Lils-” Remus held his hands out.

“Remus, I’m surprised at you.” She cut in.

“It’s not what it looks like.” He cried.

She stopped and stared at the desperate look in Remus’ eyes. She’s only ever seen that once before, when she’d worked out that he was a werewolf. She frowned and looked around the room, “Where’s Black? I heard you talking to him.”

The two boys glanced at each other, biting their lips. There was a whine beneath the bed and Remus vaulted over it to look the black dog in the face. He reached out to pet it cautiously, “Are you sure about this?” The dog huffed out a breath and nodded. Remus nodded, petted him once more and stood up.

“Shut the door Lily, we’ll tell you everything.” Lily frowned, but did as she was asked. Remus offered her a seat on Sirius’ vacated bed, she sat and Remus sat on his own, Padfoot crawling into his lap once again. 

“This all started when James and Sirius worked out what I was, back in second year.” He scratched behind the dogs ears absently, “They wanted to find a way to help me. I, of course, told them that was impossible. But that only made them want to look harder.”

“We couldn’t find a cure, obviously,” James cut in, leaning against the bedpost, “but we found out that there were a few things immune to a werewolf bite. It took us a few years to work it out, we had to do it in secret so Remus wouldn’t know what we were planning and stop us.”

“It was incredibly stupid, to be fair Prongs.” James just grinned and Padfoot huffed out a breath, Remus was sure Sirius would’ve been rolling his eyes.

“I heard you talking to Padfoot earlier. He’s, is he an animagus?”

Remus sighed and nodded, “he did it to help me. The wolf doesn’t attack animals, it thinks we’re a pack. Please Lils, don’t tell anyone.”

“Why is he in dog form now? Anyone could walk in,” she asked cautiously.

“He’s upset, he won’t tell us why.” Lily looked into the dog’s eyes, a familiar grey now she was really looking and could see Sirius beneath them, pleading with her. Lily knew. She’d been outside the empty classroom when the howler from his mother had exploded at him.

“Don’t worry Padfoot, I won’t tell anyone.”

The dog jumped from the bed and leapt into Lily’s lap, licking her face, she screamed and fell back, giggling.

“Oi! We had a deal Padfoot, get off her!” James yelled.

Lily didn’t want to think about what that deal could possibly be. She whispered in the dogs ear, “I’m here, if you ever need to talk,” before squealing and pushing him off.

Sirius jumped back into Remus’ lap, his tail wagging, looking happier than he had in days.

“So, I know why Moony and Padfoot now… Why Prongs, James?” Lily asked, tilting her head to the side.

“Go on a date with me and I’ll tell you,” James said, waggling his eyebrows playfully. Remus snorted, and Padfoot let out an amused huff.

Lily looked between the three of them and thought that there must be something redeeming about Potter, even if it were just the way he treated his friends.

“Fine,” she said, smirking as Potters jaw dropped.

…

It was an hour later, when James had gone down to quidditch practice and Lily to the library that Sirius finally transformed, Remus suddenly finding himself with a lapful of teenage boy. 

“Sirius.” Remus smiled, putting down the book he’d been reading aloud and pulling his boyfriend into a hug.

“M’sorry,” he mumbled into his shoulder.

“It’s okay, I’m just glad to see you,” Remus said, pulling back and cupping his cheek, “you wanna talk about it?”

Sirius shook his head, “just family stuff.”

Remus nodded and pulled him in for a chaste kiss. Sirius’ stomach grumbled and Remus smiled, “c’mon, we can catch the end of dinner.”

He stood and took his boyfriends hand, pulling him up with him.

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own these characters nor the rights to Harry Potter


End file.
